Smelly house toilets/bathrooms

[Destiny1990]

This issue keep pop up in various houses of friends in Thailand.

How come a house/bathroom becomes smelly after usage of a toilet while the bathrooms have exhaust fans and while the sceptic tank has been emptied and while the drains are not blocked and have been flushed with detox uncountable times?

Any sincere advice is welcome.

[adammike]

Stop using chemicals? 

[scubascuba3]

U-bend

[Langsuan Man]

Probably because Somchi didn't use one of these :

 

 

[Destiny1990]

1 minute ago, Langsuan Man said:

Probably because Somchi didn't use one of these :

 

 

Likely yes exactly where should they be installed? Sorry for being not so technical?

[Langsuan Man]

Just now, Destiny1990 said:

Likely yes exactly where should they be installed? Sorry for being not so technical?

The U traps the smell with a water barrier 

 

Placed under all the sinks since sometimes they don't separate the discharged "toilet" water from the "sink" water,  so the septic smell can make it's way back into the house.   Especially prevalent just after a septic tank has been emptied.  Not a problem with toilets since they have an automatic barrier via water in the  bowl  

 

In a kitchen the smell could come from the "grease" trap that is supposed to be on a different line, but this is Thailand and the plumbers do what they want  

[Boon Mee]

Thais don't know how to install a "P" trap - or don't care.

This is endemic throughout the land unfortunately...

[Suradit69]

15 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Thais don't know how to install a "P" trap - or don't care.

And yet they are ubiquitous ... except possibly where cost cutting is the over-riding concern. Caring or knowing is unlikely the deciding factor.

 

[pest]

the systems are also not vented so your sink and bath/shower drain is the vent

you can buy a shower drain that has a water seal they work while it has water in it

fit p traps or s bends to your sinks  and stop pouring chemicals in the system

[BEVUP]

All of the above 

The "U" Bend is actually half of what should be installed in every drain pipe of the house 

It is actually called an "S" Bend like the toilets have thus keeping water in to make a Seal/Plug in the line to stop the smell from coming back up

Also their should be a vent outside the house (pending how you are connected ), for mains sewerage 

Or just a Vent Pipe coming out of Septic Tank

 

[xerostar]

Also I have never seen VENT PIPES installed in Thai houses.
They allow waste water to flow quickly without air being trapped behind the column of descending water. The trapped air slows the waste water flow and causes gurgling noises and sometimes foul smelling air to come back past the p trap into the sink. I've seen the same problem with toilets backing up because there were no vents at all, even on the septic tank. Not a pretty sight with the toilet bowl brim full with stinking brown water and floating turds. Also large bubbles belching back foul smelling gas into the bathroom.

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[geisha]

IS This why the bathrooms in our condo stink even tho it’s quite new ? And what can I, as someone who rents, do to stop the smells that are often worse middle of the night ?

[Surasak]

28 minutes ago, xerostar said:

Also I have never seen VENT PIPES installed in Thai houses.
They allow waste water to flow quickly without air being trapped behind the column of descending water. The trapped air slows the waste water flow and causes gurgling noises and sometimes foul smelling air to come back past the p trap into the sink. I've seen the same problem with toilets backing up because there were no vents at all, even on the septic tank. Not a pretty sight with the toilet bowl brim full with stinking brown water and floating turds. Also large bubbles belching back foul smelling gas into the bathroom.

Sent from my SM-N915F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

The foul smelling gas is methane, so for gods sake don't light a match, or it won't be turds you have to worry about.

[transam]

Air vent pipes at the tank must be fitted or the flush  crap air has nowhere to go except back up  the toilet or sink/shower waste pipes....

[elgenon]

My farang-owned golf hotel in Pattaya very often has a stink in the bathroom. They hang deodorizers. Still stinks. From the drain in the bath floor?

[Lee4Life]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

U-bend

It's actually called a "P-Trap" (where I am from anyway). But it is shaped like a "U", it traps water in the lower part of the "U", making it impossible for the odors from the sewer or septic to come back up the drain pipe and into the building. Another method is to install a special trap-style drain in the floor. Those odors are potentially dangerous.

Edited January 26, 2018 by Lee4Life

[steve73]

Shower/floor drains often don't have a seal trap - or if they do it's very shallow, and can dry out after a few days without use.

I usually leave a spare floor tile upside-down over the floor drain in a bathroom I don't regularly shower in to try to prevent it drying out too quickly.  Seems to work OK, but better to run some water in occasionally.

[transam]

Just now, Lee4Life said:

It's actually called a "P-Trap". But it is shaped like a "U", it traps water in the lower part of the "U", making it impossible for the odors from the sewer or septic to come back up the pipe and into the building. Another method is to install a special trap-style drain in the floor. Those odors are potentially dangerous.

Pressurised air can find it's way through a U-bend if it is the easiest route...

[Oxx]

11 minutes ago, Surasak said:

The foul smelling gas is methane, so for gods sake don't light a match, or it won't be turds you have to worry about.

 

I guess you missed the chemistry lesson in school that taught that methane is a colourless, odourless gas.

[Surasak]

2 minutes ago, Oxx said:

 

I guess you missed the chemistry lesson in school that taught that methane is a colourless, odourless gas.

I won't argue, but the gas is still methane

[transam]

3 minutes ago, Oxx said:

 

I guess you missed the chemistry lesson in school that taught that methane is a colourless, odourless gas.

Not mine, Mrs.Trans complained about her wash machine not doing it's job...

[tonray]

When they install toilets here the almost never use a wax ring seal which is compressed by the toilet and prevents the escape of sewer gases. I was told by an Issan plumber..cannot use too hot for wax here..But he ignored me when I pointed out they use them in Florida with no problems

[osandpo]

A Thai architect friend tells me many bathrooms stink because of poor/no ventilation. If you’re in a house  there needs to be a small gap/window to the outside usually high on the wall. If the bathroom isn’t on an exterior wall then a  small opening to another room works too. 

If you have a working extractor fan, don’t turn it off immediately after you leave the bathroom. Let it run for a while

[BEVUP]

26 minutes ago, geisha said:

IS This why the bathrooms in our condo stink even tho it’s quite new ? And what can I, as someone who rents, do to stop the smells that are often worse middle of the night ?

A cheap way would be to plug the sink & basins when not in use

& like mentioned you could just put something over the floor drains - They actually do have special grates that replace the floor ones & I suppose so for the sinks 

 

You may already have traps at the sinks & could just be coming through the floor drains 

Edited January 26, 2018 by BEVUP

[UnkleMoooose]

Smelly house toilets/bathrooms

 

Presumably because people use them for taking a dump. 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, UnkleMoooose said:

Smelly house toilets/bathrooms

 

Presumably because people use them for taking a dump. 

In LOS the plumbing "crap" is crap....But really easy to see why.....

 

Bit like an Earth is not needed on the electrics....

[Jimbo1964]

I had a similar problem and U bends were fitted. I now use this stuff. its made from tea tree oil. Works a treat. http://www.germxit.com/home-office-air-cleaning-dispenser/ also repels mosquitoes so two for the price of one!

[catman20]

4 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

U-bend

yes they dont use u bends as traps normally the smell will come from the pipe which comes up to the bathroom floor they always seem to have this pipe which is not necessary, i think the Thais have it as they use there bathrooms as very went rooms and its where the water that is allover the floor runs away into it, i done away with the pipes in the bathroom floors. no smells

[Joedoebarinio]

When the septic tank has been completely emptied it will need to restart the bio process. To start it off quickly add a product called seed to the tank. Thaiwatsadu sell. And as the other posts have written stop putting chemicals down the drain it kills off the Bio. 

[Cylon]

We have 2 toilets, 1 up and 1 down, when you flush upstairs huge air bubbles explode in downstairs bowl. No Vent.

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by Cylon